Pentax's Optio S12 is a very compact 12-megapixel camera with terrific image qualityboth still and videoand some nifty onboard editing options such as color filters and red-eye removal. One a minor caveat: This camera records video in DivX format rather than the more common AVI. DivX files are smaller, which is a good thing, but playing them back on a PC requires that you download a special codec.

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Though the S12 can capture big, 12MP images, it's tiny (2.2 by 3.6 by 0.9 inches and 3.9 ounces)comparable in size to the 8MP Nikon Coolpix S210. The camera comes in two colors, black and silver. My silver review unit looked and felt a bit cheap, especially when compared with other point-and-shoot models such as the brushed-metal, solid-feeling Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300. The back of the camera features a 2.5-inch LCD screen and navigation buttons. The camera's 3X optical zoom lens has a focal range of 7.9mm to 23.7mm (35mm equivalent: 37.5 mm to 112.5 mm) and corresponding maximum f-stops of f/2.8 and f/5.4. ISO speeds start at 64; they go up to 1600 when you're shooting in automatic mode and 3200 when the camera is in manual or high-sensitivity mode. As with most point-and-shooters, noise is noticeable at ISO 400 and gets worse at higher settings. Automatic mode conveniently lets you control the ISO range the camera uses, giving you the choices 64 to 100, 64 to 200, or 64 to 1600.

The S12 is feature-filled but its interface is busy, and I often found that common settings were buried under submenus. If you use this camera only occasionally, you'll probably have to relearn the menu system, since it's rather unintuitive. (Don't throw out that manual!) And the animated help icons look a bit childish.

For the artsy crowd, the S12 offers some easy-to-use post-production effects built right into the camera. Aside from red-eye removal and other quick fixes, Pentax includes color filters that can remove all but one color from your photos; the desired color can be selected from a palette. When you edit an image, a duplicate is created so that the original is preserved.

I was impressed with still-image quality from the S12 and found it to be on a par with what you get from other well-rounded compact cameras such as the Kodak EasyShare V1073 and the Olympus Stylus 1030SW. Barrel and pincushion distortion were minimal.

With its face-detection feature, the S12 can detect up to 15 faces at a time. When you turn face detection on, a box outlines the subjects on the LCD and tracks them as they move. I didn't test the feature with as many as 15 people, but for smaller groups it worked well, as long as all the subjects were facing the camera or posed at an angle that left their eyes, noses, and mouths visible. Image stabilization also worked well, effectively eliminating the blur that can come with shaky hands.

Though real-world images felt crisp, analysis revealed that the S12 actually underperformed when it came to capturing detail. Using Imatest, the image-testing suite designed to analyze digital camera performance, I found that the S12 averaged only 1,966 lines of resolution, while the 10MP V1073 averaged 2,177 lines. Despite the S12's higher megapixel count, the Kodak camera delivers a sharper image.

Both in daylight and with flash, the S12 produced images that, when compared with those of the impressive (but more expensive) Canon PowerShot SD890 IS, were a bit warmer in color. The SD890 IS's images looked a bit sharper, which to my eye was more pleasing, and were less noisy. Even at ISO 200, darker areas of the image had slight noise where the SD890 IS had none. Still, the S12's images are better than you might expect from a camera at this price point.

Before you can snap your first picture, you have to wait about 6 seconds for the camera to boot upnot a great showing. Once powered up, though, the S12 is a fast shooter. Shutter lag is minimal, and the recycle time between shots averaged only 2.2 seconds, which is excellent.

If you want to shoot pictures in the widescreen aspect ratio (16:9), you're out of luck: This camera shoots only in 4:3. This is a problem if you want to view your photos on a widescreen monitor or HDTV. Virtually every other camera on the market can shoot in 16:9, and some, among them the Sony DSC-T300, even offer widescreen LCDs.

The S12 captures video in DivX format. The advantage of this is that the files are about one-fifth the size of AVI-format files (AVI is what most other cameras use) and have comparable image quality. I recorded a 1-minute, 16-second video using the S12's highest video quality, 640-by-480, and the resulting file was only 25.5MB. A 1-minute, 22-second video recorded in the same resolution on the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS resulted in a space-hogging 143MB file. Thanks to DivX's secret sauce, even though the size of the video file was smaller than Canon's, the quality of the video appeared to be identical. But the drawback of DivX is that you must install a codec on your Mac or PC in order to playback the files. This codec is free (www.divx.com) and installation is painless, but if you're buying this camera for someone who isn't too tech-savvy, it might be an issue.

The S12 features 21MB of onboard storage, or about ten pictures at the highest quality. The camera also supports SD and SDHC memory cards, which are available in sizes up to 32GB. A rechargeable lithium ion battery is included; the one in our review model held its charge through a week of testing. Cables to connect the camera to your computer via USB and your TV via composite video are also included.

Most nonprofessional photographers will find the S12's still-image and video quality quite pleasing. But some may take issue with the camera's inability to shoot still images in 16:9 or video in formats other than DivX. If these are deal breakers, but you're intrigued by high-quality video recording in a camera in this price range, take a look at the Kodak EasyShare M1033, which offers solid images, an easy-to-use interface, and 720p HD recording for less than $200.

PJ Jacobowitz is PCMag.com's Analyst for Digital Cameras. He has been with PCMag.com since September of 2006 and has appeared on MSNBC, CW11, ABCNY, XM Satellite Radio and CNN Radio as a correspondent for PCMag.com. PJ graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications and a minor in Business in 2004 from Indiana University at Bloomington. For more information on the photography lab, see "How We Test Digital Cameras."
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